Friday, August 01, 2008

Quick spoilers for last night's "My Boys" coming up just as soon as I take a nap...

We're one week away from the "summer finale"(*), and most of "Jack and Bobby"(**) was devoted to setting up cliffhangers that will have to be dealt with there. So we spend a lot of time foreshadowing another Jack/Bobby wrestling match, and Mike going to bed with Mimi Rogers, and, in the one that I'm sure they thought would be shocking but was actually the most obvious, Kenny and Stephanie hooking up.

(*) Have I mentioned lately how annoying I find most basic cable scheduling?

(**) Which makes me think of the Greg Berlanti show more than it does the Kennedys, and I'm not sure what that says about me.

Anyway, maybe some or all of these payoffs will be worth the time spent setting them up, but it made much of "Jack and Bobby" feel labored. What entertainment there was to be found came on the margins, like the guys' quest to not nap, or Mike getting sloshed on wine. (The latter may only have been amusing because my wife interjected "I'm not drinking any f---ing merlot!" in the middle of it.)

One reminder: next week's episode airs at 10 instead of 9:30 because TBS is airing two "Bill Engvall Show"s. It'll be a regular length episode, but if you don't have a DVR season pass of some kind that will automatically note the change, plan accordingly.

11 comments:

I agree, and I think you have already noted in previous posts, that the Kenny/Stephanie thing was incredibly obvious. That being said, I hope it will play out interestingly and humanize Stephanie. She's always the one trying to change the boys, and I think it would be a nice storyline if her and Kenny actually formed a relationship and he started to change her into less of a shrew, for lack of a better word.

I can't imagine that the writers thought that they were being all cagey with Kenny and Stephanie. It couldn't have been more cliched if they'd tried. Through the whole episode I was hoping that they were going to put an interesting twist on it. But no. Not even close.

When you guys say that the Kenny/Stephanie thing was obvious, I hope you mean since the first season :-). I was caught a little off-guard by them hooking up in this episode only because I expected the writers to get this out of the way long before now.

It's interesting--when the guys act obnoxious in Chicago, it's funny because I figure they're just being casual with each other. But when they do it at someone's wedding, it just comes off like they're totally oblivious and have no manners.

Also, why hire Christopher McDonald and then saddle him with such a one-joke character?

Well, I enjoyed the episode for the most part and feel even the weaker episodes work on a minimal level because of the chemistry of the cast.

I have found Jim Gaffigan totally unlikeable and annoying this season.

First, everytime his character "brags" about having money, I think that's rather appalling. Bobby is rich but is embarrassed and somewhat humble about it - an admirable trait. Gaffigan's now new money and is acting like a complete jacka-- and his relationship with the Nia Vardolos character is downright uncomfortable.

He's the one character to me of all of themm that doesn't "fit" with the rest of the cast and bothers me. When Gaffigan was more likeable, affable, and regularly in blue jeans joking and having beers with the rest, that was fun.

Another joke that they should probably let go is Brendan's ongoing obssession with the guy he met at the bachelor party. They've made his character completely pathetic this year and while I realize they feel that all the big changes this year in Brendan, Gaffigan, and Bobby are supposed to add 'pathos' not all of them work.

Finally, Jack seems like a complete player and scumbag and definitely the bad half of the brothers. I am surprised P.J. would have such a problem recognizing such a bad for her guy, but then again, she was weak in the knees for Jeremy Sisto's world traveler jerk.

So, the show has problems, yes, but when it's the gang hanging in Chicago, it always works.

I do agree with the post that a Kenny-Stephanie relationship would hopefully make her less of a royal bitch. Unlike Gaffigan who only became unlikeable this year, Stephanie has always been a rather unlikeable character.